Manga/Tankōbon
The Dragon Ball manga first appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump, a popular manga anthology magazine in Japan, on November 20, 1984, where it would remain a staple for nearly ten and a half years. Each week a new chapter would be published with approximately 14 pages per chapter. In comparison, more recent manga series, such as Naruto and One Piece, contain roughly 20 pages per chapter. Occasionally some pages, and sometimes whole chapters, were printed in color, but the vast majority of the series was published in black-and-white. Ten and a half years later, when it finally came to a close, the series had come to a total of 520 chapters, including one side-story, which was an amazing feat at the time. Beginning in September 1985, these weekly manga chapters began to be compiled into separate volumes called tankōbon (単行本; "separate volume"). In most English-speaking countries, the tankōbon are referred to as "graphic novels", while most people in Japan simply refer to them as "comics" (コミックス). Each tankōbon volume contained roughly 12 chapters and as printed in a greyscale format only. Unfortunately, this meant that all of the original colored pages from Weekly Shōnen Jump could only be viewed in greyscale. This issue was later rectified with the kanzenban releases, which retained the original color pages. "Refreshed" Version In May 2009, Shueisha revised the tankōbon covers with a new "refreshed" look. Although the cover artwork was for the most part kept intact, these new editions did receive newly drawn spine art by Akira Toriyama. The actual content of the tankōbon was left unchanged, meaning these are not new editions of the tankōbon, but simply later printings of the originals with new dust covers. Shueisha opted to split up the debut of these "refreshed" versions, with the first 20 volumes hitting shelves in Japan on 15 May 2009 and the remaining 22 volumes being available three days later on 18 May 2009. Dragon Ball Volume 01: Son Goku and Friends Dragon Ball Volume 02: A Critical Moment for the Dragon Balls Dragon Ball Volume 03: The Tenka’ichi Budōkai Begins!! Dragon Ball Volume 04: The Grand Finals Dragon Ball Volume 05: The Terror of Muscle Tower Dragon Ball Volume 06: Bulma’s Big Mistake!! Dragon Ball Volume 07: Pursuit!! General Blue Dragon Ball Volume 08: Son Goku’s Assault Dragon Ball Volume 09: When Worried, See Uranai Baba Dragon Ball Volume 10: The Twenty-Second Tenka’ichi Budōkai Dragon Ball Volume 11: The World’s Greatest Super Battle!! Dragon Ball Volume 12: The Terror of Piccolo Daimaō! Dragon Ball Volume 13: Son Goku’s Counterattack?! Dragon Ball Volume 14: Even More Action Dragon Ball Volume 15: Rivals Standing Their Ground! Dragon Ball Volume 16: The Dragon and Tiger Mutually Strike! Dragon Ball Volume 17: An Unprecedented Terror Dragon Ball Volume 18: Son Gohan and Piccolo Daimaō Dragon Ball Volume 19: Hurry, Son Goku! Dragon Ball Volume 20: A Fateful Super Decisive Battle!! Dragon Ball Volume 21: Go For It! The Planet Namek Dragon Ball Volume 22: The Namekian Resistance Dragon Ball Volume 23: The Terrible Ginyu Special-Squad Dragon Ball Volume 24: Goku or Ginyu?! Dragon Ball Volume 25: Freeza’s Super Transformation!! Dragon Ball Volume 26: Son Goku… Revived!! Dragon Ball Volume 27: The Legendary Super Saiyan Dragon Ball Volume 28: The Boy From the Future Dragon Ball Volume 29: Goku, Defeated! Dragon Ball Volume 30: An Evil Premonition Dragon Ball Volume 31: Cell Sneaks Up Dragon Ball Volume 32: Cell’s Perfect Form, Achieved!! Dragon Ball Volume 33: The Cell Game Begins Dragon Ball Volume 34: The Warrior Who Surpassed Goku Dragon Ball Volume 35: Farewell, Warriors Dragon Ball Volume 36: The Birth of a New Hero!! Dragon Ball Volume 37: The Plan Goes into Motion Dragon Ball Volume 38: The Fated Showdown: Son Goku vs Vegeta Dragon Ball Volume 39: Farewell, Proud Warrior Dragon Ball Volume 40: The Earth Army’s Final Secret Weapon!! Dragon Ball Volume 41: Do Your Best, Super Gotenks-kun Dragon Ball Volume 42: Bye Bye Dragon World